2010 V8 SUPERCAR CALENDAR ANNOUNCED

V8 Supercars Australia have announced the 2010 Championship Series Calender. The release of the calendar reveals that the championship will start early and will include a nine-week mid-season break, meaning the season will have a distinctive autumn and spring phase to it.

The earlier start has compacted the two-half season with 10 events up until mid-June, a nine-week break and six events to finish the season, culminating again with the massive Sydney Telstra 500 in December.

In other calendar movements the Falken Tasmania Challenge has been moved to November from this year’s May date while the Norton 360 Challenge at Sandown has also been shifted to the more weather friendly date of November 19-21, slotting the BigPond Perth 300 to a more workable June period.

It also enables a top-end loop for teams to curve around the country from Perth to Darwin, Darwin to Townsville in one movement, if they choose to take that option.

But perhaps the biggest change is that V8 Supercars will make their season debut at an international round in Abu Dhabi. The news of starting in the Gulf region at Yas Marina Circuit on February 18-20 and the Desert 400 at the BIC on February 25-27 is an enormous result for the sport and its international footprint.